week 2 of build: 2

Tuesday was a day of wallpapering. In the morning Henry came into show us how to put up wallpaper, as both our sets of wallpaper are patterned it would be very important for us to put them up correctly. But before he showed us that he informed us that you wouldn't paint first put do the walls how they would be done in real life so wallpaper up first. I could see his point but does this mean that when making a set you need to plaster first, also how would they create the effect that under the wallpaper the walls were rotting away. So most of the lumps of paint and sawdust that had been applied the day before needed removing so me and Laura went around the room taking them off while the others started putting up the paper in the living room.

About half way through the day we realised that we would not have enough wallpaper to finish the room so after calling B&Q I went down to the shop in Strood with Hannah and Eleanor to pick up a few more rolls. When we got there we were shocked at the price and when we rang up the group to find out how many were needed we found that we would have to get five more rolls, luckily they were on a three for two offer so I and Eleanor got half each. But it did mean that by the end of the day all the walls in the living room were covered and we had one extra for the bedroom just in case. While we were doing this Stuart started work on the doors which he hadn't quite finished designing but by the afternoon he knew what he was doing and was starting to build it with Henry.

week 2 of build: 1

On the monday we started the day by disgussing what needed to be done, some people started on their props straight away, We also decided that the walls in Gregors bedroom should be started, John who was designing the walls had decided that they would be done in layers, the first would be painted dark earthy colours so when the paper was ripped away it showed up under as if the walls were rotting from the aura given off by Gregor. Next was wallpaper which would be ripped and wrinkled in sections, and on top of this would be mould and gue and other unpleasant substances. So the rest of the group started painted. Sarah L, Laura and I hunted down a Junk yard so we could find cheap larger pieces of furniture, I needed to buy a chair for under Gregors window and Laura needed to find the arm chair. We got directions from some one in the other group and set off, unfortunately it wasn't a junk yard but a dump and we were unable to get anything from it but one of the men working there mentioned that Oxfam may have broken bits of furniture they may be able to sell us cheap, so we went back to Rochester high street. Unfortunately they didn't have anything but we went to the indoor market and there they had both the chairs that we needed and the two together only came to £20. We also found a china set which had 21 pieces in all that came from Czechoslovakia in a charity shop.

When we got back to uni the walls in Gregors room had been painted, they had mixed some of the paint with sawdust that had been left over from routing and had applied this to the walls as well giving the disgusting looking paint texture, it looked really good, just as I had imagined.

we also needed to put something on the walls in the living room, Which were now finished after we had got the last wall back, they needed a coat so that when we put the wallpaper up the ply wood didn't suck up all the moisture making the wallpaper fall of. So we covered the whole room in a layer of paste.

Week one of build: Other Jobs

After the majority of the walls were put up, we only had the missing walls and a header to finish, people spent the rest of their time beginning their own projects, Adam Started work on his Sofa and by the end of the week he had the frame almost finished, he worked pretty much on his own with only a few pieces which he asked people to help him cut either because they were to big to do himself or he was busy and needed them cut quickly. Sarah Longbottom had already started the frame for the desk and attached the top and the front. So she carried on with cutting out the side pieces and the legs. when people were free I asked them to help her if she needed and manly she got help from Eleanor. Emily cut up MDF for her tiles, then sanded and glazed them so they would be ready for painting. Sarah Wacket had brought in a table that she had bought for the coffee Table, She took off the central support and cut down the Legs so that it would be a chair hight and perfect to go between the arm chairs in front of the fire. All week people began to bring in props from the list that I had put up on the blog, that they had bought over the holidays. There are still quite a few things to be brought in and a few that needs buying just before the shoot such as the apples and the food for the tray, but we have quite a lot now.

week 1 of build: walls

Once we were back from the Easter break we were able to start putting the rooms together. We worked out to fit the set in the room we had we needed to clear all the tables and chairs out that had been stacked at the side of the room, So most of the group set about taking the tables apart and moving everything into another room. I went off to help clear space in the room we would be using as storage. When I came back a few people and Henry had started putting the walls up, I hadn't realised that they had started putting the fireplace together and found that they had attached the wrong walls together, One of the slanted walls had been put right next to the fire place on the wrong side. After noticing the mistake we were able to take it apart and put it right again.

To attach the walls together the two pieces are placed side by side and made sure that from the front they are flush then round the back you screw the side sections together just above the cross bars and at the top and bottom, at corners you need to make the decision which wall will be in front and which to the side and this is based on where you feel the join will be less noticeable. This is the same when making the door ways and the windows; you need to hold everything in position until the second wall has gone on so you don’t put too much strain on any floating pieces. Once all the walls are put in place you need to put a brace round the outside to hold it all together. When we put the central walls up we had the problem of the two walls having to go against each other but you can’t get behind it to screw the header over the door in place, so the first wall we built as we had done the others then we built the second one on the floor and slid it into place checking that the two were flush, it took us five attempts to get the door way perfect but it all fitted together.

It took us a few days to get all the walls up, again we had less people then we were hopping to have in. we built the two rooms as one area and then placed the dividing walls in the middle of this. The only thing that really slowed us down was that we had leant some one a wall and it had not been returned to us when we had expected so we had to wait for it to be delivered. We also miss placed a footer so a new one had to be built.

In the left hand side of Gregors room we have the window where the chair is rested against and at first we weren’t happy with the footer that was in place we felt that it needed a slant but when we put it in again not every one was happy with this so it was taken out and readjusted to a straight edge.

We also had a few issues with headers not quite fitting or being the wrong angle so it took us a few attempts but we got it all up.

Props

For the last week of building flats we ran out of wood to both build the remaining flats and to skin them so a few of the group who didn't have anything to do went out to see if they could find any of the props we needed for the set, some people were looking for big things such as some of the chairs and tables but mainly we were looking for smaller items we would need for dressing the set. We had sat down before hand and I had written out a list of what we would need.

Living room:

• Coat Hooks
• Fire place set
• Cutlery
• Plates
• Old books
• Newspaper
• Photos and Frames
• Doilees
• Fruite Bowl
• Red apples
• Candles
• Fire Guard
• Umbrella Stand
• Jug
• Logs
• Coal

Bedroom:

• Bed Sheets
• Dust balls
• papers
• Pillows
• Tools
• Pens
• Train time tables
• Alarm Clock
• Picture of the lady
• Torn Newspapers
• Tray of pristine food
• Tray
• Moth eaten suit
• Old broken watch

We went down to Rochester where there are a lot of charity and antique shops, we didn't find anything that we thought we could use as props but we were able to get some images of old fire places and newspapers that would be useful when it came to designing them, we are always being told its best to work from real life objects and not internet researched ones.

When we arrived back the timber had arrived so the final frames could be built, but the ply for the skins hadn't so people who didn't have anything to do started on the bigger props such as the writing desk and the bed. Only the frames were built but it meant we were getting more done. For the Desk the frame was built and the top, which was being made out of MDF instead of ply, was measured out and put aside to be routed. For the bed the frame was started which took up most of the rest of the day.

Once we had gone through how to build the flats we needed to work out how many and what size flats we needed, we had a few issues with where exactly doors were sitting and I had not realised the middle wall would need to be doubled up, But I noted down all the flats we would need and where exactly they would be going then tallied up how many of each size would be needed so I could just get people to do one size or we could do cutting in batches. The living room wasn't to difficult to work out because the walls are all 8' high so it was simply dividing the width up appropriately but the bedroom was more difficult because of the slanting roof so after we had divided up the walls like we had in the living room, we measured out on the tables the size of the walls and and the hight at the ends from this we were able to work out for the two side walls what size each flat needed to be to make the slopped effect. Once we had the sizes of each wall and I had worked out how many we needed of each size we could start building them.

These are the measurements for the flats for each wall, Also a small diagram to show which letter goes with which wall, just a diagram not measured or anything.

A = 2@4'

B = 1'6" , 2'6"(H), 2@4

F = 2' (H), 2'(F), 2@4', 2'

C = 2', 2'6"(H), 2@4', 3'6"

D = 2@3' , 2', 2@2' (H) ,2@2' (F)

E = 2@2' , 2@4' , 2@1' , Fireplace wall

G = 4@3'6", 2@5'(H)

H= header, F= footer

amount of each

4' = 10

3'6" = 5

3' = 2

2'= 5

1'6" = 1

1 = 2

H

5' = 2

2'6 = 1

2' = 3

F

2' = 3

We spent two weeks building all the flats, we were using new machinery like the air nail gun. The first flat that we built ourselves was the front to the fire place which was done slightly differently because you have to build around the hole for the fire place, so instead of putting on the bottom cross section you mark out where the top of the hole needs to be then put the bar across that, you attach to this strips of the timber for the internal sides and each of these will need a few cross bars to strengthen them, then a skin can be applied. When we did this we forgot about taking the width off and ended up making the hole to small, it was easily fixed and it just reminded us that taking of the width of the side pieces is always very important.

Over the two weeks we worked in teams of whoever came in so some days we were really productive with almost everyone in so we were able to get lots done and we had a few days when we only had a few people in to work on the flats, but who ever was in worked well together. From the list I had already made I would give people sets of walls to make and in the end we ended up with one flat to many which must have been a miss calculation but this was taken apart and used for something else. Everyone had a chance to build and to use all the tools.

we had a few issues with headers and footers, in the last week we didn't know how they were built, if there was anything different and only one person had been shown, it would be unfair to make them build them all so others made some, when they were remeasured a few needed re building, but I think this is because it was the first time we had ever tried anything like this and we had made mistakes on the larger flats as well. but we managed to get them all made before we had to go away for Easter holidays.

I feel that as a group we worked well together on the making of the flats, I tried my best to help anyone who needed my help, as well as making sure that everyone had something to do and that all the flats were made, I was not very good at putting the frames together unless it was holding the timber but I improved my abilities to use a hammer and nails which was something I had not done before.

Building flats

• First measure out and cut the wood for the frame, this is the 4 pieces for the frame and the cross bars in the middle, depending on how tall the flat is will change the number of cross sections needed.
• Cross bars are always set at 2' distances from each other, these and the top and bottom bars must have the width of the side sections cut off so when put together the flat is the width you want and not to large.
• On the side pieces pre drill holes before you start to stop the wood from cracking when you put the screw in, and mark out the 2' intervals making sure they line up on both pieces. It also makes it quicker when putting the cross sections in because you already have it marked out where they need to be.
• Then choose which end your working from and start drilling the sections together, always start from one end and work down the side attaching the cross sections, once this is done work on the other side from the same end.
• Remember to make sure the wood is flush not only on the sides but at the top so when you put the skins on you don't get odd pieces sticking through, so also don't flip the flat over when putting on the second side.
• Use part threaded screws for this, they will pull the two pieces of wood together making it secure.
• Don't Berry the screw and if it wont go in don't keep pushing or the head will be ruined and you might not be able to get it out again.

• Next you pin the skin on, this needs measuring out onto the ply wood and then cut.
• Apply Glue to the frame along all sections and lay the Skin on top.
• line the skin up with the side you started at before with the frame making sure its flush here, then put the pins in across the top then down one side then the other then the bottom, making sure its flush as you go.
• Then mark out where the 2' intervals are so you can pin across the cross bars.
• Finally rout the edges to get rid of any over hang.